Fund Objective

The investment objective of the Neptune Income Fund is to generate a rising level of income. Whilst income is the main objective there is also potential for capital growth, from an actively managed portfolio invested predominantly in UK securities and UK fixed interest stocks, with some overseas exposure. The Fund aims to achieve top quartile performance, in terms of total return, against the appropriate peer group.

View on Past Performance

It was an extremely eventful quarter, with the credit crunch migrating into a full blown banking crisis, global GDP forecasts continuing to slide downwards and global equity markets witnessing unprecedented volatility.Unsurprisingly, the banking sector grabbed most of the headlines as the interbank lending markets seized up, more financial institutions failed (including heavyweights such as Lehman Brothers and AIG) and government rescue plans around the world were hurriedly put together to avert a global financial meltdown.In terms of the stockmarket, the momentum trade that saw energy and mining shares significantly outperform the broader market for a sustained period finally came to an end in mid-July, as commodity prices found reverse gear due to slower global growth.In many ways this was one of the few positives to come out of the quarter as lower commodity prices should help ease inflationary pressures, allowing central banks around the world to cut interest rates.During the quarter the FTSE All Share Index returned -12.18%. Large-cap stocks continued to outperform mid and small-caps, with the FTSE 100 finishing the quarter down -12.00% compared to falls from the FTSE 250 and Small Cap Indices of -12.97% and -14.77% respectively. The Fund slightly underperformed the FTSE All Share over the quarter, declining by -12.56%.

Future Expectations

In light of the uncertain macroeconomic environment, the Fund remains focused on defensive sectors such as healthcare and consumer staples. Furthermore, we maintain our focus on well funded large cap stocks.

Fund Details